The Name Of The Doctor Novelisation
by Josman
Summary: The Great Intelligence has discovered the one place in the universe that the Doctor can never go, his grave, and it will stop at nothing to bring the Doctor there, with potential devastating consequences, for the Doctor, and all lifekind. But it may be the only way to save his friends.
1. Do You Hear The Whispermen?

**The Name Of The Doctor**

 **Chapter 1: Do You Hear The Whisper Men?**

 _Night had fallen in the Citadel. The higher timelords had gone off to study the sufferings of lesser species or polish Rassilon's rod, or whatever it was they did when in their time off._

 _But down in the engineering centre, two techs were unlikely to get any time off in the next few hours. Some genius had attempted to install a type 12 tachyon decelerator in a mark 3 travel capsule, or TARDIS as those kids in the academy were calling them now. Naturaly, this had wrecked the entire system and they needed to go over it with a fine toothed comb by tomorrow._

 _The technicians had stepped outside for a short break with a couple of neutri blocks when they heard an intruder alarm. Pleased at the distraction, they rushed to the security room to have a look at the screens._

 _When they saw what it was, they laughed slightly. "Someone's broken into the disposal yard! Why would anyone steal a derelict TARDIS?"_

 _"Should we alert the guards?" Said his colleague._

 _"Why bother? They're not getting very far. Come on. Back to work."_

 _In the yard, the Doctor prodded at the doors to each machine in turn. Finding one unlocked, he quickly shepherded Susan inside, only to hear a voice behind him call his name._

 _"Yes, what is it child?" He said, looking round, trying to look nonchalant._

 _"Doctor. You're about to make the biggest mistake of your life..."_

 _Her name was Claraoswaldoswin. But it was only one of many names she was known by. She existed across time and space, popping in and out. She didn't know where she was. It was like she breaking into a million pieces and there's only one thing I remember. I have to save the Doctor. He always looked different. But she always knew it was him. From his earliest adventures back on Galifrey, right up to the end of his days, she was always not far away. Sometimes she thought she was everywhere at once, running every second just to find him. Just to save him. But he never heard her. Almost never. She blew into this world on a leaf and she was still blowing. she didn't think she'd ever land. She was Clara Oswald, the Impossible Girl, and she was born to save the Doctor._

* * *

In London, in 1893, the guards in Newgate passed Clarence's cell. As usual, he was curled up in the corner talking to himself. Since he wasn't screaming the place down, they moved on. The screaming was endlessly disturbing. If he wasn't due for the gallows, they'd have had him moved to Bedlam long ago.

"Do you hear the Whisper Men,

The Whisper Men Are Near.

If you hear the whisper men,

turn away your ear.

Do not hear the Whisper men,

whatever else you do.

For once you've heard the whisper men,

they'll stop... and look at you."

Hearing a distinctive set of footsteps approaching, he spun round to point at the woman. "One word from you could save me from the rope." He croaked.

"Then you may rely on my silence."

He scrambled up to the bar, more like an animal than anything. "I have information. Valuable information."

"You would bargain for your life? You who have the blood of 14 women on your hands!" She spat.

"The Doctor!"

That stopped her dead. Vastra stepped forward, out of the shadows for the first time.

Clarence grinned. "Ah! I know all about him. Your little friend."

"And how do you know about this?"

He tapped his skull and wriggled his fingers in the air. "There are whispers everywhere... if you know how to listen. The Doctor has a secret."

"He has many." Vastra frowned.

"He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered."

* * *

Jenny was certainly not pleased. "We can't let that horrible man go!"

"He lives until I can discover what is happening." Said Vastra. "We're goint to need a conference call. I'll send out the invitations. You fetch the candles."

"Yes Maam." Jenny went to fold her wife's coat, but spotted something odd in the window. The back end of a figure, with pearly white skin.

Before she could get a better look, Jenny broke her train of thought. "Where's Strax?"

"On holiday maam. It's his weekend off."

Vastra rolled her eyes. "I wish he'd never discovered that place."

* * *

"That place," as it turned out, was Glasgow. The honourability and hardiness of the folk there intrigued him. This evening, he was entertaining himself in _The Bon Accord_. A charming little pub, where a creature would go for a fight and if he was lucky, a drink might break out.

It wasn't long before he was crashing through a dividing wall, locked in combat with a very large Glaswegian called Archie.

Archie leapt to his feet and brandished a pan. "Come here while I kill ye, ya filthy wee midden!"

Strax brandished a spade. "Prepare to die in agony for the glory of the Sontaran Empire!"

But as they roared and made to charge, a messenger boy stepped between them. "Mr Strax!"

"What is it girl? Can't you see I'm in the middle of something?" He looked up at Archie. "You don't mind?"

Archie had a look, like he was trying to process what was going on. "Be ma guest."

"Sorry mr Strax." Said the messenger. "There's an urgent telegram."

Strax took a look at the message and groaned. "Conference call. Archie, I'm afreaid I'm going to have to ask you to render me unconcious."

"Fine." Archie shrugged, raising his pan.

"Better use this." Strax handed him the spade. "It may take a while."

Archie swung. To Strax's surprise, it only took two hits.

* * *

Vastra and Jenny took their seats round a five sided table. The fumes from the candles wafted over them.

"Sleep well my love." Said Vastra.

"You too."

As they drifted off, they failed to notice the faces apearing in the windows, whispering:

" _The trap is set for the Doctor's friends._

 _They will travel where the Doctor ends._ "

Jenny and Vastra found themselves in the middle of a Victorian gazebo, but with frosted windows all round. The colours of the windows shifted in time with the music, as did the rippling patterns on the wallpaper.

"Love the new desktop." Jenny grinned.

"Well, I was a bit bored of the Taj Mahall. The tea should be good, it's taken from one of my favourite memories." As she poured out the pot that hadn't been there before, she heard a thump and a groan in one of the empty seats. "Strax. How nice of you to join us."

"This had better be important." The Sontaran said moodily. "I was in the middle of destroying some very interesting primatives."

Vastra handed him his tea. "I apologise for the interruption, but there is urgent news concerning the Doctor."

Strax looked at the two empty seats. "Who else is coming?"

"The women."

* * *

As Artie and Angie sat doing their homework, they heard a crack behind them. They turned to look, and saw Clara whisking eggs.

"You're not going to try makeing soufflés again!" Argie groaned.

"My mum's soufflé, yeah. And this time, I'm going to get it right. This time' I'll be soufflé girl."

How can it be your mum's if you're making it?" Said Artie.

"Because my mum always said the soufflé isn't the soufflé. The soufflé is the recipie.

Angie raised an eyebrow. "Was your mum deep on puddings?"

"She was a great woman." Clara said wistfully. Her arm brushed an old envelope, with ink writing. "What's this?"

"Oh, it came for you today."

* * *

Clara opened the envelope in her room. Out tumbled a brown candle and a note. She twirled the candle in her fingers as she read.

 _My dearest Clara. The Doctor entrusted me with your contact details in the event of an emergency, and I fear one has now arisen. Assuming this letter will have reached you as planned, on April the tenth, 2013, please find and light the enclosed candle. It will release a soporific which will induce a trance state, enabling direct communication across the years._

Clara abruptly dropped the candle. She wiped her hand on her jeans as she read on.

 _However, as I realise you have no reason to trust this letter, I have taken the liberty of embedding the same soporific into the fabric of the paper you are now holding. Speak soon._

Clara felt a severe sense of annoyance as sleep spread over her. She passed out on her feet, only to land on a chair in a bizarrely decorated tearoom, with the Doctor's Victorian friends.

"So glad you could make it." Vastra casually handed her some tea.

"Where am I?" Said Clara.

"Exactly where you were. But sleeping." Jenny explained, in that tone of voice Clara herself usually used to translate for the Doctor.

"Time travel has always been possible in dreams." Said Vastra. "We are awaiting one more participant."

"Oh no." Strax groaned. "It's not that one with the enormous head is it?"

"It's hair Strax." Jenny corrected him once more.

"Hair." Said Strax, as though the concept disgusted him.

With a little puff of smoke, a woman Clara didn't recognise appeared on the remaining chair. "Madame Vastra."

"Welcome Professor." Said the Silurian. "Have some tea." She offered her a cup. The Professor took a flute of champaign from he hand.

"How did you do that?" Said Jenny.

"Disgracefully." The woman grinned.

"I don't believe you've been introduced." Said Vastra. "This is miss Clara Oswald. The Doctor's companion." The woman turned to peer enquiringly at her. "That is his current travelling assistant."

"Assistant?" Clara raised an eyebrow.

Strax peered at Vastra. "Have you gone a darker shade of green?"

"Pleased to meet you. I'm Professor River Song." She shook the girl's hand. "I'm sure he's mentioned me."

" Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, of course he has. Professor Song." Clara said quickly. "Sorry, it's just I never realised you were a woman."

"Well neither did I." Said Strax.

"Let's get down to business shall we?" Vastra broke the awkwardness. She waved her hand in the air. Her memories of her visit to Newgate appeared for all to see. "Clarence DeMarco. Murderer, under sentence of death. He offered us this in exchange for his life." They watched as Clarence pulled a sheet from the floor, revealing a tile he'd covered in scrapings of Galifreyan writing.

"Space time coordinates." Said River.

"He said this was where the Doctor keeps his darkest secret." Said Vastra.

"And what's that then?" Said Clara.

"We don't know. It's a secret." Said Jenny.

"The Doctor does not discuss his secrets with anyone." Said Vastra. "If you are still entertaining the notion that you are in some way an exception to this rule, then tell me. What is his name?"

Clara sat there awkwardly. Across the table, Jenny was rubbing her face, but no one seemed to notice.

"Well I know it." Said River.

Clara boggled "He told you?"

"I made him."

"How?"

River smiled misgeviously. "It took a while."

"So you're a friend of his then?"

River raised an eyebrow. "A little more than that. From a long time ago."

"He's still never contacted you?" Said Vastra.

"He doesn't like endings." River shgrugged. "So what else did this DeMarco tell you? He didn't just buy his life with some coordinates. How did he prove their value?"

Vastra wound the memory on, to the point where she was asking him the same question. "One word only."

Clarence grinned. "Trenzilore."

Jenny shivered, but she didn't think it was from the memory.

"How exactly did he describe what he was telling you?" Said River.

Vastra waved her hand the other way to rewind. "He has one he will take to the grave. And it is discovered." Clarence said.

"You misunderstood!" River said, suddenly much less playful than seconds before.

At the same time, Jenny was trying to get their attention. "Maam. I'm sorry, but I forgot to lock the doors."

"It doesn't matter." Said Vastra. "What misunderstanding? Tell me."

"No, Maam. I should have locked up before we did the trance."

"It's not important!" Said Vastra, still looking at River.

"No Maam. I think someone's in the room with us!" Jenny said. "I can hear them!"

That got their attention. "Jenny, are you alright?" Said Vastra.

"No maam! I'm sorry maam. I'm so sorry. I think... I've been killed!"

Jenny abruptly flickered and began to fade. Vastra screamed her name.

"What happened to her?" Said Clara.

"Jenny can you hear me?" Said River.

"Speak to us boy!" Said Strax.

They each reached for her, but too late. The girl vanished completely.

"You're under attack. You have to wake up now. Do it!" River shouted, before slapping Vastra.

Vastra awoke at her drawing table, too see four figures in black suits and top hats gathered round Jenny. "Who are you? What have you done?" She challenged.

The figures turned towards her. If Vastra had been warm blooded their faces would have given her a chill. Their skin was a blank white. They had no eyes, just little craters where they would have been. Their noses similarly had no openings. The only opening in their faces was their mouths. Mouths lined with rows of extra sharp fangs.

* * *

Back in the dreamscape, River threw her glass over Strax. "You too!"

Strax awoke on the floor of the pub. Angus was gone. In his place, the Whispermen had gathered around him.

* * *

River turned to Clara, and was about to wake her too, when the Whispermen apeared round the table.

" _Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor. Tell the Doctor._ "

"Tell him what?" Said Clara, before River could warn her not to.

The Whispermen waved their hands at Vastra's memory and Clarence came up once more.

"His friends are lost forever more,

unless he goes to Trenzilore."

"Angie? Artie?" The Doctor's voice echoed through the dream.

River was more insistent towards the Whispermen. "The Doctor can never go there. You know that!"

Clara was desperately trying to listen in, but the Doctor's voice was getting louder, calling her out of the dream. "Angie? Artie?" All around her, the conference room faded.


	2. The Grave Of The Doctor

**Chapter 2: The Grave Of The Doctor**

Clara awoke on her floor. The memories of her dream were fading in her head, but she knew enough to grab on to them.

Hearing the Doctor still calling her charges' names, she went downstairs, to find him blindfolded and feeling his way round the living room. "Am I getting warm? You're supposed to say if I'm getting warm."

"What are you doing?" Said Clara.

"I came round and you were asleep, so I decided to entertain for a while. They wanted to go to the cinema, but I said not until you were awake. So they suggested blind man's bluff instead."

"So you let them blindfold you?"

"Yes. I thought I should go first." He felt around a bit more. "They're very good at it. Very quiet..."

Clara pulled his blindfold off. "They're at the cinema."

"Oh those little... Daleks."The Doctor struggled out. But then he saw the haunted look on Clara's face. "What is it?"

* * *

Clara explained everything she'd seen, as she put on a large pot of tea. "So who was she, that woman with the funny name and the space hair?"

The Doctor was staring at the far wall. "A friend."

"What? Like, your ex or something."

"Yes, something. Vastra asked for exact words. What were they?"

Clara thought for a moment. "He said "The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. And it is discovered.""

Clara was surprised when the Doctor sobbed suddenly. She'd never seen him break down like that.

"And it was Trenzilore. Definitely Trenzilore?" He said, through the tears.

"Yeah."

The Doctor wiped his eye and took a breath. "Sorry." He said, and left the room.

Clara followed him out the front door and into the TARDIS, where he took a seat below the console. "Well?"

"Trenzalore. I've heard the name, of course. Dorium mentioned it. A few others. Always suspected what it was, never wanted to find out myself. River would know, though. River always knew. Right, come here." He snapped the end off a small cable. "Give me your hand. Now, the coordinates you saw will still be in your memory. I'm linking you into the Tardis telepathic circuit. Won't hurt a bit."

"Ow!" Said Clara as he pricked her finger with the broken wire.

"I lied." He went to set the coordinates.

"So what's there then?" Said Clara. "Is it your big secret."

The Doctor took a moment to think whether or not to tell her. "No. When you're a time traveller, there's one place you must never go."

"And where's that?"

The Doctor groaned in frustration. "You never listen do you? "The Doctor has a secret he will take to the grave. And it is discovered." He wasn't talking about my secret. No, that's not what's been discovered. He was talking about my grave. Trenzilore is where I'm buried."

"You have a grave?"

The Doctor kept looking at the controls, without glancing at her. "We all do somewhere, waiting for us. The trouble with time travel, is you may end up visiting."

"But you're not going, are you? You just said, it was the one place you must never go."

The Doctor sighed. "I have to save Vastra and Strax. Jenny too, if it's still possible. They, they cared for me during the dark times. Never questioned me, never judged me, they were just kind. I owe them. I have a duty. No point in telling you this is too dangerous?"

"None at all." Clara said, gaining a smile from him at last. "How can we save them?"

"By breaking into my own tomb."

He pulled a lever and the engines roared. A second later, the cloister bell rang out and the TARDIS spun, pitched and swung beneath them, all at the same time, forcing the Doctor to cling onto the console with all his might.

"What's happening?" Shouted Clara.

"She's realised I'm about to cross my own timestream in the biggest way possible! And she's against it! So she's fighting back! Hold on!"

He flicked a switch to lock in the coordinates, before letting go and grabbing on to the railings. Despite the severity of the situation, he was unable to resist the urge to swing on them like a child. The TARDIS spun and shook harder and harder. The Console flashed and sparked, and the lights went out. But the journey didn't end with any sort of thump, the way it usually did. Instead, the TARDIS just came to a gentle stop as everything went dead.

"She doesn't want to land. She's powered down."

"So we're not there?"

"We must be close." Finding the scanner non responsive, he pulled open the doors. Below, was a blatantly desolate planet, covered by a layer of gun metal grey clouds. "I always thought I'd retire and take up bee keeping or something. Apparently not." He sighed.

"So how do we get down? Said Clara. "Jump?"

The Doctor frowned at her. "Don't be ridiculous. We fall. She's turned off everything but the anti grav. Guess what I'm turning off."

He soniced the control console and the floor dropped away below their feet. A few seconds later, he turned it back on, with them a bit lower than before. The two of them thumped into the deck. "Should have thought of that." Said the Doctor. He went to the storage cupboard and pulled out some bungee ropes, instructing Clara to tie herself under the console. With them both cushioned from impact, he turned the anti gravs off and on again several more times in quick succession, each time dropping a few hundred feet, until finally, they slammed down on the surface of the planet.

The Doctor took a step outside. He was disappointed to find that he'd broken one of the windows in the door.

The surface looked even worse close up. The thick ash clouds hung overhead, leaving everything in a gloom. Lightning cracked here and there. All around, the barren surface was covered in thick layers of ash and belts of mist. The only real feature they could see were the graves, which stretched as far as the eye could see.

"You OK?" Said Clara, as they set off. When the Doctor didn't answer, she added. "You're visiting your own grave. That's got to be hard."

"It's not just that. I'm a time traveler. I've probably done more time travelling than anybody else."

"Meaning?"

"That my grave is probably the most dangerous place in the universe."

Clara looked around for some way to change the subject. "Gravestones are a bit basic."

"It's a battlefield graveyard. My last battle."

Clara squinted at an elaborate tomb. "Why are some of them bigger."

"Officers graves. The higher the rank, the bigger the gravestone."

Clara scanned around, then fell back in alarm at what she was seeing. Up ahead, a huge monolith stood, the height of a tower block. At the top, were enormous windows, while a 20 foot high placard hung over all, bearing the words _Police Public Call Box_. "That's something of a monument."

"It's the TARDIS."

"I can see that."

"No, it's the actual TARDIS. When a time capsule dies, the dimensional dams break down. It starts to become the same size outside. When I say that's the TARDIS, I don't mean it looks like the Tardis, I mean it actually is the TARDIS. My TARDIS from the future. What else would they bury me in?" He sighed again, and made his way towards it. Clara wondered if he was feeling the same way she had when they'd visited the lifeless future Earth.

"Don't speak. Don't say my name." Clara turned to the voice and suppressed a small yelp as she saw River standing there. "He can't know I'm here. Only you can see or hear me."

Clara turned back to the Doctor, who was beckoning her towards him. "Well, come on then!"

"We're mentally linked. It's the conference call. I kept the link open so we could talk to each other."

The Doctor came back to her. "Who are you talking..." His eyes went wide. "River!"

For a moment, Clara thought he could see her. But then he walked past her and looked at one of the graves, reading _River Song_.

"That can't be right." Said Clara, looking between him and her.

"No it can't." The Doctor agreed.

"She's not dead."

"Oh, she's dead alright. She's been dead a long time."

"Yeah." River said in mock awkwardness. "I probably should have mentioned that."

"But I met her!" Clara said, hoping one of them could explain how she could still be talking to her.

"Long story." Said the Doctor. "But she didn't die here."

Clara heard a whispering sound all around them. "Doctor!"

From all sides, the whispermen advanced out of the mist.

" _The man must fall, as all men must._

 _The fate of all is always dust._ "

The Doctor waved his sonic at them, but to no avail.

In the middle of it all, River was as calm as anything. "But if it's not a grave then what is it?"

"Then if it's not a grave what is it?" Clara said, as calm as she could.

"Maybe it's a false grave." Said River.

"Maybe it's a false grave."

"Yeah, maybe." Said the Doctor, looking for new sonic settings.

"A secret entrance to the tomb perhaps?" Said River.

"Maybe it's a secret entrance to the tomb!"

"Brilliant!" The Doctor pointed his sonic downwards. "Makes sense. Why would they bury my wife here?"

"Your what?" Clara called, as he soniced open the ground beneath them and they fell down a chute.

Up above, the whispermen halted round the edge of the grave.

" _The man who lies will lie no more,_

 _when this man lies at Trenzilore._ "

* * *

On a massive ledge, outside the giant TARDIS, Vastra and Strax were groggily waking up.

"We have you surrounded!" Strax shouted to the air. "Lay down your arms and your deaths will be merciful! This planet is now the property of the Sontaran Empire! Surrender your women and intellectuals!"

Vastra, meanwhile, saw her wife's body lying not far away, and promptly ran to it. "Jenny! Jenny! Strax please!"

Strax saw her situation and decided surrender negotiations could wait until after he'd taken care of his medical duties. He pulled out his scanner and ran it over the boy. "No heartbeat. Complete cardio collapse. Shock induced."

Vastra shook his arm hysterically. "Get her back to me! Get her back, or I will cut you into little pieces!"

"Unhand me, ridiculous reptile!" He shook her off and adjusted the controls on his scanner, before jabbing her, with a little zap. Jenny coughed back awake. "There we go. Just a standard electro-cardio restart. She'll be fine."

Had Jenny not been in such a delicate condition, Vastra would have held her more tightly than ever at this point. Instead, she rubbed her arms gently. "Jenny. Can you hear me?"

"The heart is a relatively simple thing." Said Strax, as he put his scanner away.

"I have not found it to be so." Vastra smiled.

But this reunion was then cut short, as the whispermen returned. This time, with their leader at their head.

"I see you have repaired your pet." He said. "No matter. I was only attracting your attention. I presume I have it."

"Doctor Simeon!" Vastra gasped. "It is not possible."

"And yet here we are." He said casually. "So very far from home."

"But he died. You told me." Said Jenny.

"Simeon died. The creature that possessed him lives on." Said Vastra. "I presume I am now talking to the Great Intelligence?"

"Welcome to the final resting place of the cruel tyrant. Of the slaughterer of the ten billion, and the vessel of the final darkness. Welcome to the tomb of the Doctor!"

* * *

The Doctor and Clara made their way through a series of narrow, dark tunnels, using a flame torch as a guide. "Where are we?" Said Clara.

"Catacombs." Said the Doctor.

"Great. I love catacombs. So how come I met your dead wife?"

"Well, you know how it is. When you love something, you make a backup."

"I saved him." River appeared out of nowhere, in that way Clara was rapidly getting used to. "So he saved me into the biggest library in the universe. He left me like a book on a shelf. Didn't even say goodbye. He doesn't like endings."

From down the passageway, came the sound of whispering. "Run!" Cried the Doctor.

* * *

The Paternoster gang knew they should be feeling something like fear or concern at this point. But all they felt was anger, against the insufferably superior entity that had captured them.

The Intelligence led them up to a set of steel doors, at the top of a ridge, overlooking a huge swathe of graveyard. "It was a minor skirmish, by the Doctor's blood-soaked standards. Not exactly the Time War, but enough to finish him. In the end, it was too much for the old man."

"Blood soaked?" Jenny cried.

"The Doctor has been called many things." Said Vastra. "But never blood soaked."

"Tell that to the leader of the Sycorax, or Solomon the trader, or the Cybermen, or the Daleks. The Doctor lives his life in darker hues, day upon day, and he will have other names before the end. The Storm, the Beast, the Valeyard."

"And how do you come by this information?" Said Vastra.

"I am information."

"You were a mind without a body last time we met." Said Jenny.

"And you were supposed to stay that way." Vastra added.

"And so I did." The intelligence took hold of the side of its face and ripped it away like a bandage, revealing a hollow head beneath. The body promptly collapsed. Seconds later, one of the whispermen stepped forward. The features on its face warped and shifted and gained new colour, finally becoming Simeon's face. "As you can see."

* * *

Deep down in the catacombs, the Doctor had found a steel door, which he soniced open. This, he could tell, was one of the TARDIS interior doors, brought to the surface as it expanded.

As he and Clara hurried through, she felt a cold hand grasping her arm and dragging her back with surprising force. "Doctor!"

" _The girl who died, he came to save._

 _She'll die again within his grave._ "


	3. The Time Parasite

**Chapter 3: The Time Parasite**

"Clara!" The Doctor shouted, gripping tightly to her arm. Clara grabbed his with both hands. Together, they pulled her free, before throwing their full weight against the doors. One of the whispermen managed to get its hand in the door, but a few whacks from the Doctor were enough to convince it to withdraw.

"Yowza." Gasped the Doctor

The Doctor looked around the future TARDIS interior. It was a lot grimier and than his present TARDIS, and showing signs of rust in places. He made his way towards some metal stairs. "Still a bit of a climb. I think I still remember the way Clara." He looked back and saw Clara stumbling, looking disorientated.. "Clara!" He put a hand on her shoulder to steady her. "Hey, it's okay. You're fine. The dimensioning forces this deep in the Tardis, they can make you a bit giddy."

"I know that." She muttered. "How do I know, how do I know that? Have we, have we done this before? We have. We have done this before. Climbing through a wrecked TARDIS."

" _Why do you have zombie creatures? Good guys do not have zombie creatures!_ "

Realising, what was happening, the Doctor quickly spun round. "Clara, it's ok. You're fine."

"You said things, things I'm not supposed to remember..."

The Doctor shook her. "We don't have time for this. The TARDIS is a ruin. The telepathic circuits are awakening memories you shouldn't even have."

 _"Why do I keep meeting you?_

"Clara?" Said the present day Doctor.

 _"The Dalek Asylum. There was a girl in a shipwreck and she died saving my life. And she was you."_

"Clara?"

 _"In Victorian London there was a governess, who was really a barmaid, and she died. And she was you!"_

"Clara? Clara! What's wrong?" The Doctor brought her back to the present.

Clara jumped back from him. "What do you mean, you keep meeting me? You said I died. How could I die?"

The Doctor paled. "That's not a conversation you should even remember."

"Answer me!" She shouted. "What do you mean I died?"

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of the whispermen forcing the door open below them. "Run!" Shouted the Doctor, once more.

 _"The man will answer for his crimes,_

 _and all will die a thousand times."_

They ran through the lower levels of the TARDIS, finally finding their way to the ridge, where Jenny, Vastra and Strax were surrounded by a ring of whispermen. "The doors require a key. The key is a word. And the word is the Doctor's." He was saying.

The Doctor stepped forward. "Here I am. Late to my own funeral. Glad you could make it." Seeing Jenny alive, he nodded at her. "Jenny."

The Intelligence had no intrest in greetings. "Open the door, Doctor."

"No." The Doctor said simply.

"Because you know what's in there?"

The Doctor bit his lip. "I will not open those doors."

"The key is a word lost to time. A secret hidden in the deepest shadow and know to you alone. The answer to a question..."

"I will not open my tomb." The Doctor insisted once more.

The Intelligence stared him in the eye. "What is your name?"

The Doctor paled, but refused to open his mouth.

This was no problem. "The Doctor's friends." He ordered. "Stop their hearts." Instantly, the ring of whispermen began to close in.

"Madam, boys." Strax ordered. "Combat formation. They are unarmed."

"So are we!" Cried Jenny.

"Do not divulge our military secrets!"

"We are armed." Said Vastra, pulling out the disintegrator pistol she'd kept concealed. She shot the Intelligence, which went fuzzy for a second but remained unharmed. It hadn't even shifted its expression. And the whispermen continued to close in.

"Stop this!" Cried the Doctor. "Leave them alone."

"Your name, Doctor?" Said the Intelligence.

"Doctor?" Clara called, as the nearest whisperman reached for her.

Strax, meanwhile had found a branch on the floor, and swung it at a whisperman. It passed straight through it, cutting it in two. "Would you like me to do that again?" He taunted.

The whisperman hissed for a few moments, before the pale shell reformed.

"Doctor who?" The Intelligence said again.

The whispermen placed their hands on the group's chests. To their surprise, the hands passed right through their skin, travelling through their bodies like a cold wind.

"Please stop it." Said the Doctor.

"Doctor who?" The Intelligence said, even more loudly.

"Unhand me sir!" Strax cried, taking several more swings at the whisperman, though none of it seemed to slow it down much.

"Just let them be!" The Doctor pleaded.

"It's alright sir. I think I've got him rattled!" Said Strax.

"Doctor!" Clara screamed.

The Doctor looked back and forth, torn between his overwhelming need to protect his companions and his overwhelming need to prevent a universe shattering paradox.

"Doctor who?" Said the Intelligence. More fiercely than ever.

"PLEASE!" The Doctor cried.

Suddenly, the doors slid open a foot. River stepped through. "The TARDIS can still hear me. Lucky thing, since him indoors is being so useless."

As the whispermen stepped back, Strax turned to the Doctor. "Why did you open them? I had him on the run!"

"I didn't even say my name." Said the Doctor.

"No. But I did." Said River.

The Great Intelligence would never admit it, but it was confused. How had the doors opened? It was a greater disappointment that the Doctor had failed to say his name. But the fact was, they were open, and that was all it needed.

The Doctor hurried over to his companions, who were picking themselves up, coughing. "Is everyone ok? Jenny? Clara?" He picked the girl up.

"That was not nice." She gasped.

"I know. I'm sorry." He gave her a reassuring hug, then turned to face the Intelligence. "Now, Doctor Simeon. Or Mr G Intelligence, or whatever it is I should call you. Do you know what's in there?"

"For me, peace at last." Said the Intelligence. "For you, pain everlasting."

The Doctor looked at the path behind him. He could leave now and his companions would be safe. But he had to see what the Intelligence wanted in there. Reluctantly, he went up to the doors and pushed them fully open.

Inside was the console room, except all the walls were overgrown with weeds. The cloister bell was tolling endlessly. The only light came from a flickery blue object in the middle of the room. Climbing the stairs, they saw what it was. The console was missing. In its place was a pillar of blue threads, like strands of barbed wire. None were stationary. Each constantly shifted and twirled around each other.

"What is that?" Said Clara.

"What were you expecting, a body?" The Doctor said, sounding out of breath, though the stairs couldn't have been that tiring to step up. "Bodies are boring. I've had lots of them."

"But what is the light?" Said Vastra.

"It's beautiful." Said Jenny.

"Should I destroy it?" Said Strax.

"Shut up Strax!" Vastra snapped.

"Doctor, what is that thing?" Clara said again.

"Tracks of my tears." The Doctor said.

"Less poetry Doctor." The Intelligence snapped. "Tell them."

"Time travel is damage. It's like a tear in the fabric of reality. That is the scar tissue of my journey through the universe. My path through time and space from Gallifrey to Trenzalore." He soniced the path so the others could hear.

 _"Have you ever thought what it's like to be wanderers in the fourth dimension?"_

 _"Do I have the right?"_

 _"Daleks, Cybermen, they're still in the nursery compared to us."_

 _"There are corners of the universe that have bred the most dangerous things."_

 _"You were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic."_

 _"That's the trouble with regeneration. You never quite know what you're going to get."_

 _"I'm the Doctor. I'm from Gallifrey in the constellation of Kasterborous..."_

 _"Hello, Stonehenge!"_

"My own personal time tunnel. All the days,"

 _"It was the daisiest daisy I'd ever seen."_

 _"If you were trying to break through a wall, you'd choose the weakest spot. If you were trying to break into this universe you'd choose this crack."_

"... Including some that... Including the ones that I haven't lived yet..." Everything around the Doctor seemed to warp and shake in his mind's eye, and the air became hard to breathe. He collapsed to the ground. Through the shakiness, he felt Clara hurrying forward to steady him, while calling his name. "Which is why I shouldn't be here! Paradox... Very bad!"

Squinting, he could see the Great Intelligence stepping towards the path. "What are you doing?" He groaned. "Someone stop him!"

Jenny Vastra and Strax stepped forward, but the whispermen mirrored them, holding their hands out and hissing threateningly. No one was getting anywhere near him.

"The Doctor's life is an open wound." The intelligence said. "And an open wound can be entered!"

"Don't." The Doctor groaned. "It will destroy you!"

"Not at all. It will kill me. It will destroy you." Said the Intelligence. "I can rewrite your every living moment. I can turn every one of you victories into defeats. Poison every friendship. Deliver pain to your every breath."

"It will burn you up. Once you go through, you can't come back. You will be scattered along my timeline like confetti."

"It matters not, Doctor." The Intelligence snarled. "It matters not, Doctor. You thwarted me at every turn. Now you will give me peace, as I take my revenge on every second of your life. Goodbye. Goodbye, Doctor." It stepped into the path. The threads twisted and enveloped him, and before long, he'd faded. The whispermen vanished with him.

Almost immediately, there was a rumble, like the biggest earthquake ever. Thunder rumbled outside, and the Doctor writhed in agony. He could feel the Intelligence corrupting his timeline.

* * *

All it took was to posess the right being at the right time. To lead one of the Toglafane to catch Martha long before she could tell her story to the whole Earth. Or correcting the aim of some of the medieval soldiers who'd otherwise have failed to shoot the Doctor. Or guiding one of Scagra's spheres down to the head of K9, leaving the Doctor with no one to cover his escape from Shada. Even shifting an Adrozanian bat bat a few feet to the right delayed the Doctor's search for the antidote for the poison that was killing him, just long enough.

* * *

"What's wrong with him? What's happening?" Clara screamed.

Vastra looked at her scanner. "He's being rewritten. Simeon is attacking his entire timeline. He's dying all at once. The Dalek Asylum. Androzani..."

Clara looked up. "What did you say? Did you say Dalek Assylum?"

"Now he's dying in London with us!"

* * *

The Intelligence continued its work. It corrupted the timlords scoop and led it to snatch the Doctor from Thoros Beta, just too late to save Peri. Even if the Doctor survived his trial, the loss of his companion would break him. Its interferences didn't always need to be so extreme. It was sometimes as simple as locking Ace in the chemistry lab, just as she was about to blow it up, or hiding the money Rose was supposed to take to the man downstairs, so the Doctor would never meet her. It started the trains running before the Doctor could escape the London Underground. It Unlocked the TARDIS immediately before the one the Doctor was supposed to steal. Further and further back it went. Unwritting everything it saw.

* * *

"It is done." It said, as the path shifted into a sickly red glow. The Doctor screamed harder than ever.

"Dear Goddess." Vastra gasped. "A universe without the Doctor..."

"What is it?" Said Jenny.

"There will be consequences." Said Vastra. "Jenny, with me."

The three of them hurried outside, but Clara stayed where she was. "The Dalek Asylum. You said it was me that saved you. How? Victorian London. How, how could I have been in Victorian London?"

"No please stop." The Doctor groaned. "My whole life is burning."

* * *

Vastra held her scanner up to the sky.

"What are you scanning for?" Said Jenny.

"Local star systems." Vastra replied.

"Why?"

"Because they are disappearing." Sure enough, up in the sky, the stars were winking out one at a time.

"Disappearing how?"

"The Doctor's timeline has been corrupted. His every victory reversed. Think how many lives that man saved. How many worlds. He saved your life when we met." Hearing a lack of response, she spun round. "Jenny?" But the spot her wife had been standing in was empty. Vastra looked round desperately, unable to bear losing her a second time that day. "Please, Jenny, no! Oh God, oh please, no." But to no avail. The girl had vanished.

As Vastra keyed madly on her scanner, Strax snarled at her. "Reptile scum!"

She looked up to see Strax brandishing a bar at her. "You are an affront to Sontaran purity. Prepare to perish!"

"We're friends. Strax, your past is changing, but I swear, we are comrades!"

Strax ignored her. "Die reptile!" He raised his club to strike, but Vastra pulled out her pistol and fired. Strax vannished.

"Strax!" She shouted. "Strax!" She wondered how long it would be before her own past felt the effects.

* * *

Clara stared at the path. "I have to go in there."

The Doctor, by now, was too weak to do more than mumble. "No please no."

"But this is what I've already done. You've already seen me do it. I'm the Impossible Girl, and this is why."

"Whatever it is you're thinking of doing. Don't." Said River.

"What happens if I step in there?"

"The time winds will tear you into a million pieces. A million versions of you, living and dying all over time and space, like echoes."

"But the echoes could save the Doctor right?"

"But they won't be you. The real you will die."

"They'll be real enough to save him. It's like my mum said. The soufflé isn't the soufflé, the soufflé is the recipe. It's the only way to save him, isn't it?"

After Lake Silencio, River had promised the Doctor that she would never endanger anyone else just to save him. She'd stood by that. But now she could see that there was no other choice. Clara had to die. Not wanting to say so, River simply nodded.

"The stars are going out." Vastra said. "And Jenny and Strax are dead. There must be something we can do!"

Clara smiled. "Well look at that. I'm soufflé girl after all." Somehow, the knowledge of what was about to happen felt like just another event in her life. As though she'd woken up with a list reading _Look after Angie and Artie, make soufflé, go out, save the Doctor, die._ It was a strangely serene experience.

"No, please." The Doctor groaned, as she stood up.

"If this works, get out of here as fast as you can. And spare me a thought now and then." Said Clara, preparing herself.

"No Clara." The Doctor said again.

"In fact, you know what? Run. Run, you clever boy, and remember me." She took a run up and leapt into the path.

"No Clara!" The Doctor called after her.

* * *

 **Author's notes: The only really disappointing thing about this episode is that we only get to see how one of the echoes helped the Doctor out. We just saw her shouting "Doctor!" In various costumes. Although, granted, that may have taken too long. On a suggestion from a friend, I'm going to take a detour from cannon in the next chapter, just to show some of the times she may have helped.**


	4. Adventures Of The Echoes

**Chapter 4: Adventures Of The Echoes:**

For a second, Clara just hung there, suspended among the threads. But then they began to envelop her. Though she felt no pain, she could feel them tightening around her. Slowly, she began to feel as though the timelines were becoming part of her. Overwriting everything she was. But one thought held on longer than the others. _I have to undo the Intelligence's damage. I have to help the Doctor._

She felt all the rifts where the Intelligence had gone through, causing damage and willed herself to follow. She couldn't know how she was doing it, but she was. Feeling the paths dividing, she divided herself. She felt a million different pieces of her forming in the paths she followed, each manifested itself as a whole lifetime in a perfect position to save the Doctor. She lived out those lives one by one. until she wasn't even sure where she was any more she just knew that she was running.

Before long, she began to feel like she'd lived a thousand lives in a thousand places. She was born, lived and died. And always, there was the Doctor. Always she was running to save the Doctor again and again and again. And he hardly ever heard her. But she'd always been there.

* * *

She was there right from the start. The day he'd started running. A worker in the TARDIS breakers' yard, back on Gallifrey. She saw the Doctor shepherding Susan into the wrong TARDIS. How she knew it was the wrong one was beyond her, but she wanted to be rid of a certain one anyway.

"Yes, what is it, what do you want?" The Doctor said nervously, once she'd got his attention.

"Sorry, but you're about to make a very big mistake. Don't steal that one, steal this one. The navigation system's knackered, but you'll have much more fun."

The Doctor eyed her suspiciously, then decided she seemed harmless enough and took up her offer.

* * *

A small army of fluffers had been rushed in to clear up the muck that had gathered on the London Underground, in preparation for the trains re starting. However, the boss seemed possessed with an obsession for getting a particular stretch around Covent Garden cleared straight away.

"Excellent." He said, when it was done. "Run a train to test it."

"Shouldn't we check to make sure no one's down there?" Someone said.

"Don't argue! Just do it!" He snapped.

Clara decided to check anyway. Sure enough, there were three figures moving down the line.

"What are you doing here!" She shouted. "They're about to restart the trains Quick, there's an access door just over here."

"Thank you." Said the Doctor, as she opened it for him. It was too dark to see her face, but she'd probably saved all of their lives.

* * *

Having broken the scientists from the hypnotic trance, Rubeish decided he should also do the same with the medieval workers the Sontaran had been forcing to produce weapons.

One of them was turning one of the rifles over in his hands. He somehow still retained the knowledge of how they worked. "Why, with weapons such as these, Irongron could terrorise the whole world!"

"Perhaps not." Said Clarete, a servant girl. "He had me making the parts you look through. I still kept enough of my mind to make them all crooked. Their shots will all go wild." She looked over the lab, at all the machines the Sontaran had brought with him. To her medieval mind, they looked like sorcery. "The man is a monster." Seeing the door open, she hurried out, reasoning she should get the other servant away from him.

* * *

She didn't always live full lives of her own. Sometimes she merged with others. She didn't replace them, just shared a mind. She was 100% Clara and 100% Clare Keightley. This allowed her to remember how to fly a TARDIS much longer than she had on her own. Long enough to materialise beneath the Doctor and Romana and rescue them from Scagra's spheres.

* * *

In another lifetime, she was a resident of Castrovalva. As the city began to fold in on itself, she spotted the Master making a break for it. Though she had little comprehension of what was going on, a very clear part of her mind told her the man had to be stopped. A few calls to the others nearby and they swarmed forward to grab him.

* * *

Claraoswaldoswin had moved up in the world in the last few centuries. Once a lowly breaker for derelict TARDISes, now she was working as an operator for the Celestial Intervention Agency.

As the Doctor was off battling the Valeyard in the matrix, she found herself summoned to the court room.

"It has come to our attention that you tampered with the events around the Doctor's companion's death without seeking permission." Said the Inquisitor. "It may aid your defence if you could tell us what happened.

She gulped. "Well... I thought snatching the Doctor away like that was tampering with history. They had the evidence against him anyway, so there was no need for the woman to die unnecessarily. So I just froze those scientists for the same stretch of time as Yrcanos. That way he had time to save her, as he should have."

"Well this certainly works in the Doctor's favour. Thank you."

* * *

The Yellow Kang, known as Carry Case, hurried very fast down the carrydoor. The robot in close pursuit. It had already unalived her friend Nina, now it was coming after her. The robot was slow but it was persistent. And none of the Rezzies would let her in when she knocked on their doors.

Turning a corner, she saw another robot blocking the carrydoor ahead and knew she'd be unalive very soon. All she could do now was pull out her paints and rapidly wall scrawl. She'd never learnt to write, but she could paint fast. She scribbled down an image of a robot arm lifting a Kang's decapitated head in the hope of mayhaps warning someone else about what was going on.

* * *

Miss Oswin was busy clearing up her paperwork at the end of the day, when she spotted a small bag that had fallen off a shelf. Picking it up, she saw it was the Lottery money Rose was supposed to take to Wilson.

Spotting the girl making her way out, she hurried over and grabbed her by the door. "Forgotten something?" She said, shaking the bag.

Rose sighed. At least this would only take a couple of minutes. As the others made their way out, she made her way to the staff lifts, hitting the button for the sub basement.

* * *

The Master had the entire crew of the Valliant assembled in the main hanger.

"It would seem." He said. "That someone from this vessel has been passing information to the resistance. Every time we get close to Martha Jones, she slips away. If that traitor would like to step forward, I won't get angry. Ok, I will, but it would be nice if you'd do it anyway." He wasn't at all surprised when they all remained still. "Toclafane. This crew is defective. Kill anyone who isn't a hostage and we'll get new ones."

"It was me!" A woman who's name he'd never bothered to learn stepped forward quickly.

"Hold your fire!" Said the Master. No need to make a mess. "Well then. Perhaps you could make it up to me. Just tell me. Where is Martha Jones now?"

The woman shut her mouth tightly. That was good. It meant he could employ that new torture method he'd thought up.

"Guards! Dangle her off the ship until she talks."

* * *

Clara hurried through the Buckingham Senate, glancing fearfully over her shoulder. She burst through the doors to the oval throne room, in the hope of warning the Emperor. "Emperor, we're... but the moment she looked at Churchill, she forgot what it was she meant to warn him about. By the time she could remember, the Silence that was following her had hit her with a vaporising blast.

Fortunately she was just close enough for Churchill to grab her gun. The Holy Roman Emperor was not one to leave things to the troops, as he'd proven at Issus, Game Station and Gettysburg. Before the creature had time to respond, he brought up the revolver and shot it.

"We have to get out of here!" The Doctor shouted, shortly before they lost sight of the creature. He wouldn't remember the girl afterwards. But thanks to her, he knew to run.

* * *

 **Author's Notes: The episodes referenced here are The Web Of Fear, The Time Warrior, Shada, Castrovalva, The Trial Of A timelord, Paradise Towers, Rose, The Last Of The Tiemlords and The Wedding of River Song.**

 **I wanted to include something for Paul McGann, but I just couldn't think of a way to write her into either of his TV appearances.**

 **Yes, cleaners on the London Underground are called fluffers.**


	5. The One Who Broke The Promise

**Chapter 5: The One Who Broke The Promise**

"That was a violent and unprovoked attack." Said Strax. "But that's no excuse!"

"We are all restored and that's what's important." Said Vastra.

The three of them were back to normal. Vastra was clinging on to Jenny's hand more tightly than ever. Meanwhile, all the signs on her reader indicated that the universe was normalising. The path had returned to its blue colour, and something about Clara's presence had stopped the babbling voices so that the Doctor could stand there safely.

"We're not all restored." The Doctor was stood staring at the stream.

Realising what he was implying, River hurried forward. "You can't go in there. It's your own timestream for God sake!"

"I have to get her out." Said the Doctor, without even glancing at her.

"Of course, but not like this!"

"Get her out how?" Said Jenny.

"Can she still be alive?" Said Vastra. "It killed Doctor Simeon."

"But Clara has one advantage he hasn't got." Said the Doctor.

"What's that?"

"Me."

"Doctor, please listen to me. At least hear me!" Cried River.

The Doctor carried on regardless. "If I don't come back, and there's a good chance I may not..."

"Doctor!" River shouted again.

"... Go back to the TARDIS. The fast return protocols should be in place, to get you home."

River looked over the group, in the hope that just one of them might tell the Doctor just how insane his idea was. Sadly no idea was forthcoming. "There has to be another way. Use the TARDIS, use something. Save her, yes, but for God's sake be sensible!" In her frustration, she forgot that she was incorporeal and swung a slap at the Doctor. To her surprise he caught it. "How have you done that? I'm not really here."

The Doctor turned to her. "You are always here to me. And I always listen, and I can always see you."

"Then why didn't you speak to me?"

"Because I thought it would hurt too much."

"I think I can cope." She smiled.

"No. I thought it would hurt me. And I was right." He leaned over and kissed her, deeply. When it was over, he visibly had a thought. "As I'm the only one who can see you, God knows how that must have looked." He glanced over at Jenny, Vastra and Strax, who were looking befuddled by the man kissing empty space. "There is a time to live and a time to sleep. You are an echo, River. Like Clara. Like all of us, in the end. My fault, I know, but you should've faded by now."

River had suddenly softened. If the man could see and touch her, maybe he could do one more impossible thing before the day was out and save Clara. "It's hard to leave when you haven't said goodbye."

"Then tell me how to say it. Because I don't know how."

"There's only one way I'd accept. If you ever loved me, say it like you're going to come back."

"Well then." The Doctor stepped away, smiling. "See you around, Professor River Song."

"Till next time, Doctor." She grinned back.

"Don't wait up."

River laughed. "Oh, there is one more thing."

"Isn't there always?"

"I'm mentally linked with Clara. If she's really dead, how could I be here?"

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Go on then. Tell me."

"River smiled one more time. "Spoilers. Goodbye sweetie." And with that, she faded.

The Doctor tried hard not to think about whether he ever would see her again or not. Instead, he looked to the woman he needed to save right now. Without another word, he hurried forward, into the timestream. Unlike the previous two who'd done this, he knew exactly where he needed to be, and he focused everything on that.

* * *

Clara continued drifting through the timestreams, repairing one break after another. She could feel her journey coming to an end. She didn't know where she was. She didn't know where she was going or where she'd been. She was born to save the Doctor, but the Doctor was safe now. She was the Impossible Girl, and her story was done.

With a thump she landed. She sat up and tried to think. But the memories of so many lifetimes were running through her head still, making it very difficult to think straight. Was she a soldier? Scientist? Dalek? Student? She couldn't tell.

She looked around for something to focus on. She could just make out a grey gravely floor, but everything around her was blurred. Dark grey shapes formed a wobbly outline against the slightly-lighter grey sky.

"Doctor!" She shouted. "Doctor! Please, please, I don't know where I am." She sobbed.

"Clara!" Called her Doctor's voice. The most wonderful sound in the world. "Can you hear me?"

"I can't see you."

"I'm everywhere. You're inside my time stream. Everything around you is me."

Just then, she caught something red. She watched the figure approach, but just caught a flash of coat tails and scarf as it rushed by. More figures drifted through. She caught glimpses of velvet jackets, of cricket jumpers, pinstriped suits, leather and question marks. All of the figures hurried by her without a second's glance. "I can see you. All your faces, they're all here!"

"Those are my ghosts. My past. Every good day, every bad day."

From somewhere, there was a clap of thunder and the ground shook beneath her. "What's happening?"

"I'm inside my own timeline. It's collapsing."

"Well get out then!"

"Not until I've got you."

Clara looked at her hand. "I don't even know who I am!"

"You're my Impossible Girl. I'm sending you something. Not from my past, from yours. Look up. Look."

From above, Clara saw something brown drifting her way. As it got closer, it finally came into focus, long before anything else. It was a leaf. The same one that had brought her parents together.

"This is you, Clara. Everything you were or will be. Take it. You blew into the world on this leaf. Hold tight. It will take you home."

Taking it, she almost felt the warmth rushing back to her body. She was Clara Oswald. She was a schoolteacher in training from the 21st century. The other memories were still there, but she was rapidly gaining focus.

"Clara! Clara! Come on. Come on, to me, now." The Doctor was stood, beaconing to her. "You can do it. I know you can." Behind him was an extension of the timestream, the Doctor was holding there through some massive effort, to give them a way to get out.

Clara stood, but her legs barely felt solid. "But how?"

"Because it's impossible. And you're my Impossible Girl. How many times have you saved me, Clara? Just this once, just for the hell of it, let me save you. You have to trust me, Clara. I'm real. Just one more step."

Clara pulled herself forward on very shaky legs and staggered towards him. She made it just far enough to collapse into his arms.

"That's my Clara." He said. He made to lead her out, but she had become transfixed on another figure. The only other figure there to be stood still, with his back to them. He had grey hair, and a faded leather jacket. All the others were blatantly avoiding him. "Who's that?"

"Never mind. Let's go back." The Doctor said quickly.

"But who is he?"

"He's me. There's only me here."

The effort of just standing was causing Clara's exhausted head to spin, but she tried to focus. "But I never saw that one. I saw all of you. Eleven faces, all of them you. You're the eleventh Doctor."

"I said he was me. I never said he was the Doctor."

"I don't understand." She mumbled, as colour spots appeared before her eyes.

"Look, my name, my real name, that is not the point. The name I chose is the Doctor. The name you choose, it's like, it's like a promise you make. He's the one who broke the promise."

As he said this, Clara fainted in his arms. He lifted her up and turned to glare at the man.

"He's my secret."

"What I did, I did without choice." Said the figure, without turning round.

"I know."

"In the name of peace, and hope, and sanity."

"But not in the name of the Doctor!" He turned and stepped back into the link, carrying him and Clara back to regular time.

As they went, the War Doctor turned round for the first time, watching them disappear.

 **Next time: The Shakespeare Code.**


End file.
